> We have a number of mail customers that must send there outbound > mail through the ISPs SMTP server. Now we rely on them to keep the > SMTP server up and running, relaying in a timely manner, not adding > footers to the email and providing customer service for outbound > SMTP issues. Have you ever tried to call Earthlink, Sprint, SBC or > PacBell about an SMTP issue?? The point fingers more than the > telephone side does!
I agree completely. There's a glaring misconception that people who run ISPs know how to run mailservers (of course related to the idea that Unix admins always know how to run mailservers...and of course *only* Unix admins have the knowledge to manage an ISP, despite the fact that ISPs have to deal with a Windows user community as well as tons of proprietary hardware). Our experience consulting for many providers shows this to be absolutely fallacious. Geez--and this is just one case--one of our favorite local T-1+ providers can't keep their Horde/IMP server up 24/7, which is a very bad sign. So while the people that endorse blacklisting all mail from suspect providers that comes directly from subscriber servers (when the subscriber servers are allowed by SLA) have their hearts in the right place, they need to own up to the fact that they are forcing innumerable people who need reliable mail service--legit and illegit alike!-to change ISPs, not "simply" asking them to use a smart host. Waiting around for ISPs to "wake up" and figure out how to deliver gigantic levels of outgoing mail, and then to figure out how to stop getting the smart host itself blacklisted, won't cut it. There are plenty of businesses underequipped financially and technically to make overnight switches...more likely, they'd just switch to another blacklisted service. To my mind, it's the disingenuous and elitist parts of that policy that have the bad smell, not the policy itself. There has to be a more honest way to achieve the same result. -Sandy ------------------------------------ Sanford Whiteman, Chief Technologist Broadleaf Systems, a division of Cypress Integrated Systems, Inc. e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------ --- [This E-mail was scanned for viruses by Declude Virus (http://www.declude.com)] --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com.
